| H.L. Mencken (1880–1956). The American Language. 1921. |
Page 176 |
| | | pork-barrel, buck-private, dough-boy, cow-country. And adjectives: jitney, bush (for rural), balled-up, 17 dolled-up, phoney, pussy-footed, tax-paid. 18 And picturesque phrases: dollars to doughnuts, on the job, that gets me, one best bet. And back-formations: ad, movie, photo. And various substitutions and Americanized inflections: over for more than, gotten for got in the present perfect, 19 rile for roil, bust for burst. This last, in truth, has come into a dignity that even grammarians will soon hesitate to question. Who, in America, would dare to speak of bursting a broncho, or of a trustburster? 20 |
| Turn to any issue of the Congressional Record and you will find examples of American quite as startling as those I have exhumed—and some a good deal more startling. I open the file for 1919 at random, and at once discover “they had put it on the market in a condition in which it could be drank as a beverage.” 21 A moment later I find, from the same lips, “The evidence disclosed that Jacobs had drank 28 bottles of lemon extract.” A few pages further on, and I come to “It will not take but a few minutes to dispose of it.” 22 I take up another volume and find the following curious letter written by a Senator and inserted in the Record at his request: |
Hon. Edgar E. Clark,
Chairman Interstate Commerce Commission,
Washington, D. C.
My dear Mr. Chairman: It has been brought to my attention by many people in Georgia and those whom I see here that the present high passenger and freight rates are doing more to decrease the amount of income received by the railroads than if a lower rate was in effect, which would cause more freight
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| Note 17. Balled-up and its verb, to ball up, were once improper, no doubt on account of the slang significance of ball, but of late they have made steady progress toward polite acceptance. [back] |
| Note 18. After the passage of the first War Revenue Act cigar-boxes began to bear this inscription: “The contents of this box have been taxed paid as cigars of Class B as indicated by the Internal Revenue stamp affixed.” Even tax-paid, which was later substituted, is obviously better than this clumsy double inflection. [back] |
| Note 19. Mr. Bankhead, of Alabama, in the Senate, May 14, 1918, p. 6995. [back] |
| Note 20. Bust seems to be driving out burst completely when used figuratively. Even in a literal sense it creeps into more or less respectable usage. Thus I find “a busted tire” in a speech by Gen. Sherwood, of Ohio, in the House, Jan. 24, 1918. The familiar American derivative, buster, as in Buster Brown, is unknown to the English. [back] |
| Note 21. Mr. Tincher, of Kansas, in the House, July 19, 1919, p. 3009. [back] |
| Note 22. Mr. Blanton, of Texas, in the House, Aug. 12, 1919, p. 4057. [back] |
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